Orange County, NY median home prices slipped in December 2025; sales fell

Median selling prices in Orange County, NY moved lower for December 2025 compared with the prior month, a localized housing market snapshot published March 6, 2026 shows, a sign that market activity remained uneven heading into 2026. The snapshot’s finding follows months of modest volatility in the county’s recorded sales data.

Realtor.com’s deed-based figures for September 2025 put the median home sold in Orange County, NY at $423,750, down 1.5 percent from August’s $430,000 and slightly below the September 2024 median of $424,500. Realtor.com notes its sales data are sourced from real estate deeds and lag actual listings by a few months, and the statistics do not include homes currently listed for sale.

The September 2025 breakdown shows single-family homes had a median selling price of $451,000, down 3 percent from August’s $465,000 but marginally higher than the $450,000 median in September 2024; sixteen single-family homes sold for $1 million or more in that month, up from eight such sales in September 2024. Condominiums and townhomes recorded a median of $314,900 in September 2025, down 3.1 percent from August and down 5.3 percent from September 2024’s $332,500; no condominiums or townhomes sold for $1 million or more in September 2025. Recorded residential sales in Orange County, NY totaled 346 in September 2025, down 11.5 percent from 391 recorded sales in September 2024, and all residential transactions that month summed to $167.7 million.

By contrast, Orange County, California showed different dynamics in December 2025. Attom’s ZIP-code analysis of 87 ZIPs found 51 ZIPs with year-over-year price increases and 36 ZIPs with declines; Attom noted that median home sales price dipped in the past year in 42 percent of Orange County ZIP codes. Countywide median price in December 2025 was $1.16 million, effectively flat year over year, and the report cited total sales of 1,746 for December with the phrasing that those sales “were down 9% for the year.” Among ZIP extremes, Newport Coast 92657 posted the priciest median at $5.62 million and Laguna Woods 92637 the cheapest at $542,000; the busiest ZIP in December was Irvine 92618 with 70 sales.

Local market commentary in Orange County, CA echoed caution. An Orange County housing market update for December 2025 reported inventory at 3,598 homes for sale, down sharply from November but up 8.47 percent from a year earlier, and a sales price per square foot of $761, down about 1.17 percent from November and up 3.40 percent versus last year. The update said, “December is always a strange month for real estate... That matters. It suggests prices aren’t surging but they aren’t eroding either. Instead, values are holding steady in real (inflation-adjusted) terms.”

A broader Southern California check using Zillow data showed the six-county regional average home price at $854,993 in December 2025, down 0.1 percent from November and down 1.3 percent year over year; median rent in Los Angeles County was $2,167 in December, the lowest since January 2022, while rents in Orange and Ventura counties rose slightly year over year. Economists cited factors slowing the market including high mortgage rates, rising inventory and economic uncertainty tied to tariffs.

An Instagram post claimed, without sourcing or a clear geographic reference, that “Orange County's median home price jumped 10.2% to $549,900 last month” and that homes were selling in “just 72 days”; that social-media claim is unverified and does not identify which Orange County or which month it references. Taken together, the data point to divergent housing conditions: Orange County, NY showing a December 2025 price dip and falling recorded sales after summer figures, while Orange County, CA displays sharp ZIP-level variation alongside higher year-over-year inventory and broadly flat county medians — dynamics likely to keep the regional market uneven through 2026 unless mortgage rates or inventory trends shift materially.